Durum at $8.45 and malting barley at $5.81

The Pool Return Outlooks for new crop durum and malting barley are considerably higher than the prices expected for this crop year. The Canadian Wheat Board released its first new crop price projection yesterday. After deducting this year’s freight and handling for Saskatchewan, No. 1 durum with 12.5 per cent protein has a price outlook of $8.45 a bushel. That’s more than a $1.50 above the price expected in the current crop year. On two-row malting barley, the new crop price expectation is $5.81 a bushel. That’s a lot better than the current crop year PRO which is less than $4 a bushel. On wheat, the new crop price spread isn’t as large. No. 1 CWRS with 12.5 per cent protein has an expected price of about $7.50 a bushel, only 25 cents above the current year’s PRO. Of course, the new crop price estimates shouldn’t be taken too seriously. There are all sorts of uncertainties in the market and the start of the new crop year is five months away. However, the new crop PRO on wheat does mean that producers are now able to lock in new crop wheat prices under a Fixed Price Contract. Contract details and pricing information is available on the CWB website. I’m Kevin Hursh.